Okay, so I helped with my first WWROF webinar over the weekend, and it was all about the new WW-Digi contest coming to life at lightning speed. Webinar Master Emeritus Ken K4ZV ran his usual very smooth event where Ed W0YK, the chairman of the all-new WW-Digi contest, described the process of evolution for a contest that has gone from a sparkle-in-the-eye to first-inaugural-debut in a space of a little over 4 months.
Ken was brilliant. Ed was brilliant. I was a fat-fingered idiot and caused two separate audio black-outs, one during each of the two webinars. But now I know not to do that anymore, thank you.
What struck me about this whole WW-Digi thing is that ham radio is moving forward with technology, yay, and there is less looking back than ever. It’s pretty impressive. By the time Ed was done telling us all about the new contest, which will make for FOUR Worldwides in a row on the last weekend of each month from August through November (a feat in itself), I felt like even I, an old-world cave-dweller, could successfully wire up my 15 year old radios and make them, talk this new contest language.
Have they solved every single issue that will come up during the course of a new worldwide event? Of course not. Is that the goal? No it is not. It’s a bold foray into the unknown, and we will only know what it holds if we jump in and do it.
It was downright exciting. This new contest sounds like it is going to be a different kind of fun.
I urge you to set aside an hour and listen to Ed’s webinar, available in the WWROF archives. The future is now, and it is in great hands. Get on the air and learn how it works. I am thinking it is going to be a lot more than telling Alexa to go get you DXCC on FT8. I’m looking forward to finding out for myself.
Mark Beckwith, N5OT
Board of Directors and New Webinar Guy
Worldwide Radio Operators Foundation
